


Masks

by mortenavida



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Amputee Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, M/M, Major Character Injury, Secret Identity, Secret Identity Fail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 13:30:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6909361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mortenavida/pseuds/mortenavida
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s hard being Iron Man when you’ve got the man of your dreams waiting for you at home. But just when Tony decides to run his last mission, everything goes terribly wrong and he finds out some secrets his own boyfriend is keeping from him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Masks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MassiveSpaceWren](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MassiveSpaceWren/gifts).



> I took from several of the prompts and fulfilled (in some way) some of the short prompts: Tony kissing Bucky’s metal arm, Bucky tells Tony he’s not dead, and (loosely) secret relationship. I’ll have you know that “Identity porn/secret identities” is a new kink of mine thanks to this. :D Please let me know if I'm missing a warning.

_ “We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.” _

_ ― _ [ _André Berthiaume_](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1754535.Andr_Berthiaume)

 

For the past five years, the thing Tony most enjoyed was waking up to the sight of his boyfriend.  Most mornings, he would still have his retired army soldier in his arms, nose buried in the other man’s soft, long brown hair. Of course, James would already be awake with Tony’s hand in his own, slowly moving it down between his legs for a morning romp in the sheets. It was never a problem to oblige him this.  After they had their fun, most mornings they would get up and stumble around the room to get dressed and brush teeth. Then they would go to the kitchen to eat breakfast before they each went off to work.

This was not most mornings.

Tony woke up alone, although the spot in front of him was still warm.  He sat up, sheets pooling around his waist, just as James walked into the room half-clothed. And damn, even with the left arm missing from an old war wound, Tony found him absolutely gorgeous. The New York police uniform just upped that factor, if he was being honest with himself. The tenting under the sheets must have showed, because James snorted and pointed his belt at Tony.

“Don’t start or I’ll be late,” he said. “I got a text a bit ago. There’s been a break in the case.”

Tony motioned him closer. “The homicide one? You know Jarvis can—“

“I’m not using your A.I. on a simple case, Tony.” James tossed the belt at him before grabbing his jacket and stepping closer. “We’re almost done.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Tony pressed a kiss to James’ stomach before getting to his knees on the bed and helping him get dressed. James could do this himself, but sometimes Tony knew it was nice to do this. He certainly would take another excuse to touch him. “Will you be home late?”

“Shouldn’t be.” James leaned in to kiss him, beard scratching a bit on the part of Tony’s chin he kept trimmed. “We still have a date tonight.”

“Yes, sir.” Tony pulled him in for a deeper kiss before letting him go. “Pizza and your Disney movies. I remember.”

James ruffled Tony’s hair and stepped back. “Love you. Don’t forget to tell Pepper about our party next month.”

“I won’t. Love you, too.”  Tony waved with one hand, using the other to trail down to his exposed, half-hard erection. “We miss you.”

“You’re going to get me in trouble one day, Stark.” James blew him a kiss. “I’ll call if you if something happens.”

“Hope you don’t call, then.”

With one last wave, James left.  Tony kept still on the bed, staring at the door just in case he decided to return.

_Sir, James has left the tower_ _and is on his way_.

“Perfect.”  He jumped off the bed.  “Did you hear from the jewelers?”

_ They sent a message last night. Your order should be ready today. _

Tony smiled as he pulled on one of James’ shirts.  “Think he’ll say yes?”

_ I have no doubt that he will. Can I also say that I believe you are doing the right thing by clearing your past before taking this step forward _ ?

“Yeah, me too.” Tony stepped into the elevator. “Hopefully today’s the last day I do it, though. I think it’s time for Iron Man to finally go away.”

_ Should I warn Director Fury of Iron Man’s retirement? _

Tony leaned back against the wall of the elevator. “I’ll let him know after the mission. The message last night said it wasn’t that big, right? Simple go in, grab information, get out?”

_ That is correct, sir. _

“Not that hard, then.”  Once in his lab, Tony went to the far end where he had a ridiculously oversized bookcase. It did have real books on it, none of the usual hidden door crap from movies. No, he just had to stand in front of it and wait for Jarvis to open it.  “The Mark VII for this one?”

_ As the VIII and IX are damaged, that would be the most appropriate one to take on today’s run. _

“Fantastic.” Tony stretched. “When I retire, this room goes on complete lockdown, got it? Nobody gets in unless there’s an emergency.”

_ Of course, sir _ . _ Shall I add James to the emergency list? _

“Not yet. I want to tell him about this part of me in my own time.” He pulled off his shirt so he could start getting in the suit’s underclothes. “Let’s get to work.”

Three hours later, Tony dodged another range of bullets before he dropped down next to the Winter Soldier. It had taken the Avengers some time to get used to the guy, especially since he was kind of a deranged assassin when he first showed up. But after a few missions and multiple reassurances from Steve that “Bucky” was trustworthy, the team got on the same page and welcomed the sniper.

Tony had only ever heard him speak Russian and only when the mission needed him to speak. He figured that this was a good damn time to speak – and he was ever so glad that Jarvis could push out his words into another language so this didn’t become a game of charades.

“Where is your ear bud? You were supposed to call these in!”

The soldier eyed him (or Tony thought he did – it was hard to see through the goggles) before shaking his head and muttering something. The translation popped up on Tony’s H.U.D.

“A distraction?  The hell you mean by distraction?”

The Soldier shifted his position and said something else before taking off across the roof.

” _ Not kill shots, _ ” ran across Tony’s display. “ _ Keeping them busy. _ ”

Tony glanced over their battlefield and swore, not sure why he hadn’t noticed it all before.  He watched where the Soldier was headed before he took off after him.

“I’ll cover you if you can get in and finish this,” Tony told him. “All right?”

The Soldier nodded, broke a window on the roof, then disappeared down it.  Tony stayed hidden, but kept his repulsors ready to fire if needed.

_ Sir, the city police have evacuated the area. No civilians present. _

“Good to know. Thanks, Jarvis.”  Which also meant that the city police were back where they were safe.

Not for the first time, Tony was guilty that he felt so happy his James only had one arm. Sure, he was on the force, but he kept to desk work and data management. It made times like this easier to focus.  Really, it wasn’t until he came home with his side bruised to hell that he realized he was being unfair in this. To move on with life, he had to stop being reckless.  He knew James wanted kids, but how could Tony justify having them when he still went out and did this on a weekly basis?

“Jarvis, can you tell if the package has been removed yet?”

_ Not enough data, sir. _

“Of course there isn’t. Remind me to tell Steve that he needs to keep better reign on his boy. Did James answer my text asking if he was okay?”

_ Right after you sent it, he assured you that he was still at the precinct. _

“Good, good. Looks like I’ll be retiring with minimal bruising. Damn, I need a vacation.”

_ Would you like me to plan one? _

“You do that.” Tony hesitated as he felt the building shake. “J, what—“

Without warning, Tony’s repulsors fired, lifting him into the air as the building shook harder. No sooner did he clear the roof did the building collapse on itself, crumpling in on itself as explosions went off.

“Scan! Is the Soldier anywhere?”  Tony hovered above the wreckage. “Life forms? Anything?”  The H.U.D. focused at a point in the center of the rubble. Tony dropped down to it before Jarvis even told him that the Soldier could be found there. “Cap, Soldier is buried. I repeat – Soldier is down!”

“ _ Iron Man? What’s your location! _ ”

“Hovering above the wreckage. Dust is clearing, are you going in?”

” _ Affirmative. Widow is making sure medical is on stand-by. He ditch the bud again _ ?”

“As always.” Tony waited until the dust settled before scanning the building again. “East side. I picked up something!”

He dropped down next to the rubble just as Captain America showed up, worry clear on his face.  Tony scanned the area one more time before nodding.

“If we’re careful,” he said through the helmet, “we can get him out. Extraction team?”

For a moment, the Captain looked as though he wanted to protest that idea, but then his shoulders sagged and he nodded. “They know what they’re doing.”

“They’ve already been called.”  Tony patted Steve’s shoulder lightly. “He’ll be out in no time at all.”

“No time at all” turned into a few hours because the building had collapsed directly on top of the Soldier, knocking him in the head and driving a piece of debris through his chest. Steve was beyond worried, but Tony knew that Super Soldiers had a tendency of bouncing back from whatever was thrown at them.  Sure, it might take a week longer because of the impalement, but there was nothing—

“Soldier coming out!”

Tony motioned toward the building where the team was coming out with a stretcher between them. “See, everything will be fine, Cap.”

Steve frowned. “He’s not moving,” he said and surged forward.

“Isn’t that normal for him?” Tony asked, but let Steve go either way. “Scan him for me will you, J? I doubt our little Cap has anything to… to…”

The Soldier’s mask and goggles were removed so they could put a breathing mask on him on the way to the truck.  Even without the H.U.D zooming in, Tony knew  _ exactly  _ who it was.

“No… Jarvis, scan. Confirm identity.”  Tony stepped closer, the suit feeling twice as heavy. “Con…”

“ _ Identity confirmed. James _ —“

“No!”  Tony surged forward, but was held back as if a hand were on his chest (and probably Jarvis as part of the suit froze).  “No, James!”

“Stand down,” someone said next to his shoulder. “Iron Man,  _ stand down _ !”

But Tony wasn’t listening.  All he saw was James –  _ his _ James – being loaded into a truck and driven off.  He pushed away whatever agent had held him back and then took off, following after the truck.  He knew exactly where it was going, but he would never forgive himself if something happened to the truck on the way to SHIELD’s hospital wing.

He landed on the roof of the building right in front of the door. “Iron Man here, let me in.”  He gripped the handle. “Iron Man,  _ let me in _ !”

The door opened and Tony ran inside, hopping over the railing and letting the suit safely drop him down the stairwell to the right floor.  He jerked that door open, not paying attention to if he accidentally broke it or not. The few agents in the hall all raised their guns at his entrance, but put them down as soon as they realized that it was just him.

Not that Tony even cared enough to pay attention to that. He gave Jarvis the command manually release everything and he walked the rest of the hallway, taking pieces of his suit off as he did.  He saw Steve pacing outside of a room and he knew that was his destination.  He tossed the gloves down, barely noticing as the boots released and he stepped out of them.

Steve looked up to him just as Tony pulled off the helmet, his eyes widening and his pacing coming to a halt. “Tony…”

“How is he?” Tony asked, pulling off the chest plate and letting it fall between himself and Steve. “Is he...?”

Steve put his hands on Tony’s shoulders and squeezed them. “They—“

“Oh god.” Tony dropped to a crouch on the floor and stuck his head between his knees, arms wrapped around his head. “I can’t… I can’t believe he…”

Steve must have sat on the floor with him, because the next thing Tony knew, he was pulled against the man’s chest between his legs.  “He’ll pull through,” Steve insisted. “He has to.”

Tony shut his eyes, letting Steve hold him for who knew how long. The pieces of his suit were collected and placed by them eventually, but he couldn’t remember who had done it. The rational part of his mind worried a bit about the fact that he had all but told the world he was Iron Man in doing this, but he also didn’t care.  The most important thing lay in the room beyond the door.

He didn’t even care that James ( _ Bucky _ ) had been lying to him about his job – how could he be given that he was doing the same thing?

Tony sat up, pulling himself from Steve’s arm. “Oh my god…”

“Tony?”

“Oh my  _ god _ .” He turned toward Steve. “I’m dating the Winter Soldier.”

Steve smiled softly. “He will be just as shocked to realize he’s dating a robot.”

“How did I not  _ know _ ?” Tony asked, dragging a hand through his hair. “It’s all there, it all makes so much  _ sense _ now.”

“Tony—“

“But why me? He knew my father, right? Of course he did, you knew my father.” Tony pushed himself up. “I just don’t—“

“Tony!”

Tony finally stopped and turned to Steve, who had stood at some point during his rant. “Steve…”

“Ask him that when he wakes up.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

Steve worried at his lip instead of answering, and it didn’t help Tony’s fear at all.  Before Tony could demand that he answer, the doctor stepped out of the room, pulling the surgeon's mask off his face. He looked between the two of them before focusing more on Steve.

“He’s stable,” was the only thing he could really get out before Tony pushed himself past the doctor and into the room.  A few nurses were still inside, cleaning up from the surgery to remove whatever had been sticking out of the Soldier.  Tony knew what the Winter Soldier was capable of recovering from – he had seen plenty of things stuck out of the man’s skin from time to time.

But this was his  _ James _ . He had seen those things stuck out of  _ James’ _ skin.

All of his wounds make sense now.  “I didn’t want to get lazy” to a bruise on his stomach. “I ran into a damned desk” to a swollen foot.  “Walking through the office and someone escaped” to a black eye.  He had been so stupid.

“James,” he murmured, reaching out to take James’ flesh hand. “Oh, James… We’re so  _ stupid _ .”

Tony wasn’t sure how long he stayed there, holding tightly to the limp hand with his head on the bed.  The room darkened by the time Steve put a hand on his shoulder, drawing Tony out of his vigil.

“You should eat,” he said, handing a sandwich to Tony. “He wouldn’t like you starving yourself.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t like him being all unconscious.”  Tony reached for the sandwich with his free hand.  “Doc say anything to you?”

“He’ll be fine, Tony.”  Steve pulled an empty chair close.  “You know that, right? You saw the Winter Soldier files.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Steve. You’re worried just as much.”

Steve smiled a little, though it didn’t fully reach his eyes. “He’s been my best friend since I was six, so yeah… I’m worried.”

“Did you ever think about telling me?” Tony asked after a moment of silence. “I could have made him a better arm.”

“No.” Steve shook his head. “You were his normal.”

Tony sighed, pressing a kiss to James’ knuckles. “So much for normal,” he murmured and put his head back on the bed.

It was hours later, long after Tony had eventually drifted off in his uncomfortable position, when he jerked awake at the feeling of fingers in his hair. He lifted his head to stare at his James’ concerned face. Tony barely realized that it was the metal hand running through his hair as James’ flesh fingers squeezed his own.

“You’ll hurt your neck sleeping like that,” James said, voice scratchy. “Tony…”

“Shh.” Tony scrambled up so sit on the bed, leaning over James. “It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.”

James looked between them, taking in a shaky breath. “So I guess you know the truth…”

“I don’t care. God, James, if I cared, I’d be a hypocrite.”  Tony kissed James’ forehead. “Once I realized it was  _ you _ behind the mask, I just…”  He let out a breath. “I have a secret, too.”

“You don’t have to—“

“I am Iron Man,” Tony said before James could stop him.

James’ eyes widened. “What?” he asked. “Tony, I--”

“I’m the ass in the suit that you never liked to listen to. The one I heard you muttering to Widow in Russian about how I was going to get everybody killed one day.”

“Tony, you--”

“I almost got  _ you _ killed,” Tony insisted. “I almost...”

“You did not—“

“I should have been better backup,” Tony said. “I’m so--”

“Will you stop apologizing?” James took Tony’s face in his hands and, somehow, the coolness of the metal mixed with the heat of the flesh calmed him. “I’m okay, I’m not dead. There’s nothing to apologize about, okay? I knew the risks going in.”

Tony let out a breath, turning to press a kiss to James’ hand. However, when he turned to do the same to the metal one, James pulled it away.

“So... you’re the man in the ugly metal suit, hm?”

“My tech is gorgeous,” Tony insisted.  He wasn’t about to let him get away with the insult that easily, so he reached out to take the metal hand gently into both of his own.  “This however...”

“Awe, come on...”

“We need to talk about this,” Tony said, sliding his fingers over the plates. “Russian tech?”

James seemed to shrink in on himself, but he let Tony hold the hand still. “Unfortunately. Look, I can get rid of it if you want me to.”

“Of course I do.” Tony pulled the hand closer so he could kiss the wrist. “You really think I want inferior tech on  _ my _ fiance? Hell no.”

“Wait...”

Tony hesitated. “That is, if my boyfriend says yes.  He just had a building drop on him, though, so he might--”

“You sure?” James asked, looking up at Tony through his bangs.  “Even after... I’m still the Winter--”

“Positive, soldier.”  Tony kissed his way up the metal arm so he could give James a proper kiss. “We’ll need to test all of the sensors on this new arm, you know.”

A small smile crept onto James’ face. “We will?”

“Hm, yes.”  Tony shifted to lay next to him. “All of them, in every way. There may even need to be times where we test things twice. Can’t have it malfunction during our wedding night.”

“I haven’t even said yes.”

“Were you even going to say no?”

“This is the worst proposal ever, I’m just saying.” James shook his head. “You’re an idiot, but I love you. Yes, Tony.”

“Great,” Tony said, trailing his fingers across the arm. “Because the rings are already done.”

“Of course they are.”  James flexed his metal fingers, a smirk on his face.  “You know, I may not feel anything, but if you wanted me to jerk you off with it, all you have to do is ask. I know that look on your face.”

“Where’s the fun if you can’t feel it?” Tony grinned. “We have all the time in the world now. Give me a week.”

“Only if you promise me something.”

“Anything.”

James kissed him again, soft and slow. “Let's start with you finding me a way to see Fury’s face when he confirms you’re Iron Man.”

Tony laughed, sure that he could definitely keep that promise.


End file.
